Retail Sales: The Future Looks Bright

This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.

... I ... Spencer Jacob ... Spencer with our ... ahead and take almost four in the paper ... looking ahead to these retail sales figures ... they came in the one point one percent gain ... than a month I'm really ... across the board to was a lot of people surprised how good this was what was your take away from the numbers ... one thing is most of it's it's a Christmas in March and my fear was that ... that was a bit of the past about these numbers I was wrong and that the film The Eye recipes with sit on Home book ... because what's happened ... so you you had the fiscal cliff and there is some concern the lead in the year during the holiday shopping season that people's concerns about what that could mean would restrain their bombing ... didn't happen ... then there's some concern that the two percent of payroll tax holiday disappearing ... which restraint people's buying in January also did happen was also good month was revised up slightly ... in these figures ... but then there was some fear ... that if every figures would be weak ... and wanting to touch that offers a memo by a Wal-Mart executive that was leaked ... said it was a total disaster the worst he's ever seen is in terms of start to February ... and while numbers of them brought down for Wal-Mart ... McDonald's reported a three point three percent drop in same-store sales ... what are these things were people who were on the most of the lower end of the economic spectrum tend to shop ... that would've been affected by ... of ... the leaves can tax returns as a result of the the the last minute nature of the the the deal to avert the fiscal cliff ... up ... and that there is evidence of that happened but ... everything else was so strong that it overwhelmed Gasoline Sales platoon with Trevino sort of a factor of the price of gasoline but ... departed store sales were down from ... food service sales were down but everything else was also my driven into Manhattan things up that much and you look at ... the U S Consumer was a was shrug Off ... Sequester and everything else we've seen in Washington ... if I want to ... kill March April May you talk about this and was Iran stacks are coming the mail I have put those on think ... we may have some positive surprises again write ... absolutely so what the fear was that that would be a negative in every inning he was in certain sectors of of certain retail establishments ... bought the upshot is that he wasn't that didn't create enough weakness and now ... of was still about eighteen billion dollars behind and ... you consider me on a can of a concentrated basis given that it ... even though this up that much money ... proportionately it's a lot more money than other the the payroll tax cut or or anything else ... forty than gasoline ... prices in terms of what are you know the cause of the immediate effect ... but that is all going to keep a solid Iris is not going to send people checks ... so April ... we may actually have to operator expectations may see an even better mom has that money comes in late in the money does tend to be specific ... this is the more they charge you had your story Ted ... looked at ... him in nineteen ninety two dollar terms as you can see on our streets or ... the team re Telcel's relief ... we stayed here are ... the same time as the crisis and sends to the plate ... that they've come up sharply across the border meal we saying that ... he was covering the least in one meant Rick ... is doing a lot better than a bill of people are realizing ... why not it is hard to sit and read all about okay so last month was a milestone in the sense that he got back ... in real terms ... to the retail sales that we saw just be before they peaks the peak of December two thousand and six and began to come down that was when home equity extraction starts trial stuff like that ... so in real terms were ... we're back to where we were that ... no witnesses two thousand and thirteen As two thousand and six obviously ... had the economy not how ... they had the worst of the postwar recession handled so that things happen ... you know we'd be many percentage points ... above that that that's one factor activist in particular weakness recoveries the recovery in retail sales that now is ... shrugging off several things that people ... like this tax issue like the sequester like the payroll tax ... on tax hike in other other tax issues that people were afraid would ... start to drag on a more all the sudden were seeing surprising strength so ... as the sun really get going for him ... quite frankly if the American consumer is apt in better than expected given his two-thirds of the ... U S economy as candidate ... was of course it's a huge component of GDP Trevor will thank you so much the Spencer Jacob are ahead of the Tape columnist of these